More Than Friends: Senior Year
by Rawr- exclamation point
Summary: Takes place after the events of More Than Friends. Troy and Ryan face more struggles together and apart as they each come to terms with growing up and finding themselves. Does not coincide with HSM 2 or 3.


Chapter 1: Over

It had started innocently enough, Ryan and him were walking down the hall, chatting away about the new release of the 'coolest first person shooter ever' as Ryan had put it. Troy was just about to correct him that while the visuals were excellent, the story was almost non existent the character designs were purely fan service.

"The graphics are amazing, you can practically see the thread count of the clothes that they are wearing. Not to mention that whatever injuries you sustain in the game will remain throughout the story." Ryan wild gesticulations went relatively unnoticed as he continued to elaborate. "Not to mention that this time around they managed to fix those buggy controls when aiming in first person."

"Oh Ryan," the brunet's airy tone implying superiority. "All of those flashy graphics and enhanced controls are purely superficial. I mean, what about the story? The first half of the game is just blowing crap up and shooting hundreds of moving targets; then at the last half of it all you suddenly save the world with almost no build up as to why. It's purely a gussied-up bad sequel to the true 'coolest first person shooter ever' as you put it."

"Why you gotta hate B Boy?" Ryan's fake ethnic affliction making Troy chuckle.

"Because B Boy here," the athletic one pointing to himself. "Don't want to hear yo' shit no more." His poor enunciation mimicking the blond's.

"Whatever gangster-" Ryan's voice cut off.

Troy stopped when he realized that his boyfriend was no longer beside him and looked to his side.

The blond teen had righted himself already, and started gathering his books, which had been splayed across the hallway floor when he was tripped. The raven haired teen who caused the altercation was nearby, his wry smirk revealing no remorse. It was apparent that the punk kid had tripped his boyfriend and Troy was seeing red. He pushed the assailant backward into the lockers, unafraid of getting caught since they were the only ones in the hall.

"What the hell man?" The brunet growled.

"Ease the hell off douche bag!" Raven Haired Teen spat back. "Don't get your boxers in a bunch over your boyfriend, shit."

A wave of cold shot through Troy as the words processed in his brain, and before the guy had finished his retort, Troy snapped.

"Shut the fuck up!" Troy pulled the boy up by his shirt and threw him back into the lockers. "You don't know anything!"

The sable haired teen hit the metal lockers with a loud thud and slid down to the floor dazed. As he sat himself up again, a small print of blood was left on the locker.

"Troy!" Ryan gasped, catching Troy's attention.

The brunet turned around in response to his boyfriend's voice, surprised to see the blond looking shocked.

The other guy had ran off while Troy wasn't looking and was halfway down the hall by the time Troy realized he was gone.

"Troy, we need to talk" Ryan's voice now taking on hints of some other emotion, fear perhaps?

"Huh?" The athletic teen was bewildered.

"See ya later fags!" The kid called out as he turned the corner.

The brunet athlete snapped his head in the other kids direction and tensed up, he wanted to take that kid down.

"Troy. Stage. Now." Ryan stated flatly, bringing his hands on the side of Troy's face.

"Umm, okay…" Troy knew something was up, and also knew enough about Ryan to know that the blond wasn't asking for another between-class make out session.

***In the Auditorium***

Troy was sitting on the edge of the stage, the old dusty wood smelling like it needed a good buff and polish from years of the neglectful janitorial staff. Ryan sat a few feet over, silently thinking to himself. Normally Ryan would be leaning against his boyfriend, but the space between them told the brunet that Ryan didn't want that so Troy didn't push him.

"Troy, why did you attack that kid in the hallway?" Ryan's face yielded no clues to what he was feeling.

"What do you mean? He pushed you down, and no one is going to get away with that if I can help it." Troy replied with a confused look on his face.

"Yes, but all he did was push me over. You got all in his face and he ended up bleeding because of it. You hurt someone over something that was no big deal." Ryan corrected him. "And you weren't that violent when he pushed me. It was when he mentioned that we were gay when you got all… scary like that. I never saw you like that before, and I don't like it at all."

"So I scared him, I don't see the big deal…" Troy muttered, knowing exactly where this was leading.

"Yes it is a big deal. You said you didn't want to come out yet, fine, but I thought that you would want to before we graduated- now I'm not so sure." Ryan stared off to the back of the auditorium. "I'm not sure anymore if you do want to come out, and whats more, is that you got violent when that kid was teasing you. What would have happened if we had come out and he said that? Would you have pushed me away so he would get off your back: to protect your image?" Ryan's question startled Troy, this wasn't what he had been expecting.

"Of course not Ryan! I just don't like it when people judge me before they know me. He had no idea that we were together, but he said it just to be hateful, and that's what got to me." Troy exclaimed.

"I saw your face when he said it. You looked absolutely scared that he might actually know something about us, and then you attacked him, as if he would tell everyone if you didn't." Ryan still hadn't looked at his boyfriend, but Troy could hear Ryan's voice falter as he struggled to remain composed. "Am I that much of a burden to you? I could ruin your reputation with the school and your dad, so you'd rather keep us a secret?"

"I'm just not ready to face all of that persecution yet. I really want to make us public Ry…" Ryan's pet name did nothing to soften him up.

"But your too afraid." Ryan chuckled darkly. "Listen, I'm not sure if we should do any of this anymore. Being with me isn't helping you Troy, and if you still need to think about coming out, then maybe you need some time alone to think. Maybe you just don't like me, or men, that much. Your probably thinking 'why risk it'?" Ryan's voice was shaking as he finally let his fears get the better of him. "Every time I see the other couples in this school together, holding hands, I think to myself 'that could be us, we could be together all the time without have to hide the fact that we're more than friends from everyone, but that won't happen until _you_ say it's okay."

"Is that what this is about Ry? You don't think I like you enough to come out? I do like you, a lot, and after everything we been through… and done… together, I thought you knew that."

"Yeah, you like me, but do you… love… me?" Ryan finally tuned to face Troy and it broke his heart.

Ryan's blue eyes were glistening with tears he was fighting to hold back.

"I-I…" Troy was speechless.

"I guess that answers my question." The blond's voice cracking. "I never held anything from you Troy, I let you know my past, my thoughts, and I let you take me for the first time. Apparently that wasn't enough to warrant your love. I can't do this anymore, not if it means I'll get hurt. Goodbye Troy, don't come near me until you've figured things out."

Ryan slid off of the stage and grabbed his stuff, leaving his now ex-boyfriend behind.

"Wait!"

Troy grabbed the dancer's hand to stop him but the blond just pulled away. The teen was so shocked since Ryan had never pulled away from him- even when he was angry with Troy- that he let go. He watched as his boyfriend left him alone in the auditorium.

How the hell did things get so bad today?

*A/N*

So… it's been awhile.

Can't say I'm done writing, and I promised you guys a sequel, so here the product of those two factors. I'm still working out how the rest of the story will play out, but expect updates as the story starts to solidify. Also, this story will probably contain darker themes than the original, maybe not, but that's the direction that it seems to be going in.

Some thank you's are in order to people who messaged me and gave me their support over the last two fics I… took a break from. I might pick those back up again, because I really want to play out those story lines, but no promises. Also, if you ever did read the conclusions to A Broken Mind, you don't have to worry, I have several way the story could finish playing out in the end, so don't expect to many spoilers. Stupid Cupid is for sure in the can, sorry, I just don't do supernatural fics well.

Thank you to anyone who reads this, and a bigger thanks to who reviews it. Your support is appreciated, and don't give up on me if the updates come in slowly.

All the best,

-(RAWR!)


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